A journalist from Harper's magazine and another from Vanity Fair apologized this week after they were slammed for having publicly mocked Blue Ivy Carter, the 7-year-old daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
On Wednesday, the rapper Megan Thee Stallion posted two black-and-white photos of herself with Blue Ivy and Beyoncé on her Instagram and Twitter accounts. Vanity Fair film critic K. Austin Collins responded to her tweet: "I have a feeling the jay z face genes are about to really hit Blue Ivy and I feel so sorry for her."
Violet Lucca, a web editor for Harper's, replied to Collins' tweet: "They haven't already?"
Lucca added: "Or she'll just get plastic surgery at 16 a la Kylie Jenner and we'll all have to pretend that she always looked that way…I can't allow myself to feel too sorry for the incredibly rich!"
They were both slammed for their remarks.
"There's nothing harmless about insulting a child's features regardless of whether that child has famous parents or not," a Twitter user wrote. "There's no value in colorism, anti-blackness or attempting to pretend that class is a justification for targeting a 7 year old with insults."
Lucca and Collins issued apologies, and their tweets were deleted.
"I'm sorry about the Blue Ivy tweet — bad joke, and black girls in particular deserve better," Collins tweeted Wednesday. And after a Twitter user told him that "some tweets should be left in drafts," Collins responded: "you're right. Poor form on my end. Thanks all for calling it out."
The magazine joined the apology.
"Vanity Fair regrets that our critic K. Austin Collins tweeted an inappropriate comment about Blue Ivy Carter and Jay-Z that violated the magazine’s standards and conflicted with our values," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We agree with Kam’s decision to delete the tweet, and we join him in apologizing for it."
Lucca responded in a series of tweets Wednesday and Thursday.
"Sorry I was cleaning my apartment while this blew up...children of famous ought to be off limits, but time and again they haven't been. So I said something petty and have been called ugly, old, and a racist," she wrote in a tweet Wednesday night.
That tweet drew claims of racism, including one from a Twitter user who said Lucca's comments were "anti-black."
"I'm not playing the victim...sorry that I insulted Beyoncé's daughter by suggesting that she might get plastic surgery some day, like many children of famous people do," Lucca responded.
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Lucca tweeted Thursday morning that Collins "wrote a very earnest apology and everyone in the replies is telling him to keep it."
"We've been moved to the evil category and there's no way for us to get out of it," Lucca wrote. "I'm sure there will be plenty of people responding to this saying I'm playing the victim by pointing this out."
About an hour and a half later, she said she was "truly sorry to anyone who was reminded of past hurt" because of her comments.
"I truly believe Blue Ivy will go to the grave without knowing who I am, which is neither here nor there, but on the off chance she sees it—I'm sorry, young lady. You're gonna go far no matter what," Lucca tweeted.
